


paths we've crossed

by wwa archive (wisdom_walks_alone)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alive Bianca di Angelo, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, Inspired by Music, Originally Posted on Wattpad, Songfic, bianca lives in this one, soldatino (nico's lullaby) by poala bennet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-22
Updated: 2016-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24568300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisdom_walks_alone/pseuds/wwa%20archive
Summary: Bianca lives but Nico is still heartbroken. He lost his sister, his only family. She was all he had left and she left him. Through dreams, Kronos spoke to Nico and convinced him to join his army. He ran away and Bianca is filled with grief and heartbreak upon returning to camp with the hunters. This story starts during the Battle of the Labyrinth, where brother and sister cross paths once again.
Relationships: Bianca di Angelo & Nico di Angelo
Kudos: 10





	paths we've crossed

**Author's Note:**

> yeah this is a songfic based on [soldatino (nico's lullaby)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9fu5rJ3k4Q) by paola bennet

_ Slash, stab, kick, repeat. Slash, stab, kick, repeat. _

It was the same steps over and over again, and it killed Nico a little bit each time he felt another soul pry itself from its body and travel to the Underworld, where it surely would be placed in Elysium for its efforts, something he was sure wouldn't happen to him. But he kept at it, because there wasn't much else he could do.

Blades clashed, stygian against celestial, metal against metal, iron against bronze. Nico didn't stop, not once. He had a job to do, and that job was to win this battle. He ignored the familiar faces, the betrayed faces of campers he once knew, the pained faces of friends he once had. He especially steered clear of Percy Jackson. He thought if he faced him, he'd just completely break down. And the Hunters…Nico didn't want to think about the Hunters.

They were doing great. Kronos’ forces bled from the Labyrinth, no amount of stitching to be able to close the cut. Camp Half-Blood’s numbers were starting to dwindle.

Nico momentarily wondered if he should be happy about that, but he quickly dismissed that thought. Of course he should be happy. His side was  _ winning. _ But, was it really his side?

Yes, he told himself. Why should he be on the side of the Olympians? Their king killed his mom, they neglected their own children, they disrespected minor gods just because they thought they were lesser than them. There was nothing good about the gods.

These thoughts just fueled his anger even more. Nico slashed with more vigor, stabbed with more force. He didn't care that they were demigods like him. He didn't care that some of them used to be his friends. He didn't care about any of that. All he needed to know was that they were fighting  _ for _ the gods. And that just wasn't right.

Everything was a blur, and Nico had lost count of how many people he'd killed. But everything went back into focus when he heard one word, being said by one voice.

“Nico?”

He refused to turn around. It couldn't be her. No, it couldn't be. It just  _ couldn't. _

“Nico!”

There it was again, but louder this time, more sure of itself.

He turned around.

It was her. He had hoped it wasn't her but it was. It was her, his sister, standing right there, in the flesh, in the middle of a battlefield. She didn't look any different than the day he'd last seen her. She stared at him, a look mixed between horror and disbelief on her extremely familiar face. Of course it was familiar. It shared the same facial features he saw everyday in the mirror, but tanner, healthier, the olive complexion not yet depleted but rather more accentuated. The aura of a Huntress sparkled ever so slightly around her frame, bathing her in in a soft silver glow. 

Freckles splashed her cheeks, just like they did on his. Her black eyes were wide with emotion, like they were hollow, like the person they were attached to was shocked and sad at the same time. Her disappointment was evident on her face. She looked like her heart was about to break into a million, no, a billion pieces.

“Bianca,” Nico breathed, all his anger melting away, being replaced by remorse and grief. All the pain he had felt washed over him, and he felt like that helpless little child he was not so long ago. 

Bianca stepped towards him, albeit cautiously, and studied him, as if there wasn't a raging battle going on around them. As if it was just the two of them, standing alone in the clearing of Zeus’ fist, together. Wasn't this what he'd wanted? For them to be together? Sure, it would have been better under different circumstances, but this was all he'd gotten.

Nico contemplated running to hug her, to feel the warm, tight embrace of his big sister, but decided against it as it didn't seem like the thing to do at that moment. Instead he walked towards her, slowly, his feet stepping over and around the bodies of those who had already fallen that littered the ground, spilling blood on the grass. At the same time Bianca started towards him, both of them dodging and deflecting strikes that were being thrown at them. 

And finally, they were standing right in front of each other, so close they could each feel the others breath on their face. Bianca was still a few inches taller than him, even though she had not grown, or aged at all for that matter, since they'd last seen each other and Nico had grown a considerable amount in the last few months. They each looked the other directly in the eye for a moment, before she tore her gaze from him and instead looked up and away from him.

“What happened, Nico?” she asked. “I thought you were better than this.” She looked back at him, her eyes glazed with unshed tears. 

“Better than what?” Nico retorted, all evidence of pain vanished except for that in his eyes. “Fighting for what's right?”

“How can this be right?” Bianca demanded, but there was no malice behind her words. “How can any of this,” she gestured around her at all the fighting and violence that surrounded them, “be right,  _ fratello _ ?” 

Nico shifted his gaze to the ground, willing the tear about to fall onto his cheek to go back and never come out. Bianca hadn't called him that since she said goodbye. Since the Hunters left, leaving Nico all alone.

_ “Goodbye,  _ fratello _. Until we meet again. We’ll cross paths again at some point, I promise.” _

Her words rang in his ears like church bells, loud and clear, even now after months of hearing nothing but the sounds of monsters and turncoats, the rogue demigods complaining about the gods and sharing their misfortunate stories with all others to greater fuel their hatred for the almighty beings.

_ “I promise.” _

Bianca was always a girl of her word. She never broke a promise, and this time was no different. Thinking about that only strengthened Nico’s pain as it clasped his heart and squeezed until he thought he would burst.

Finally, after a long silence, aside from the roaring battle, Nico looked back up at his big sister. “What have the gods ever done for us?”

He answered a question with a question, he noticed. He eyed her, waiting for her to respond.

“Dad helped mom get us out of Europe,” Bianca replied. “He helped us get settled in America. He put us in the Lotus Hotel to protect us.”

“Yeah,” Nico agreed, “but Zeus killed Mama. Father wiped our memories in the Lethe. He stuck us in the hotel, but at what cost? We came out and we were complete strangers to the modern world. And the only reason he pulled us out was because he wanted one of us to become the child of the prophecy.”

“He saved us from being killed by Zeus!”

“But he didn't save Mama!”

“You know he couldn't’ve!”

“Of course he could have!” 

“But then we would have died!”

“IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN US!” The words came out louder than he'd anticipated. He looked down and, quieter, said,  _ “It should have been us.” _

He looked back up at her, the tears in his eyes threatening to spill. She clenched her jaw.

Suddenly, they both noticed that Kronos’ forces were retreating back into the Labyrinth. Bianca quickly looked around and back at Nico. “Nico,” she said, “you have to come with me. If you come with me, they'll accept you back. It's not too late to do the right thing.” Her voice was panicked, maybe even desperate.

Nico stole a quick glance at the Labyrinth. “I'm sorry,” he told her, turning to retreat with the rest of the turncoats. He turned his head to look at his sister once more. “Until our paths cross again,  _ sorella _ .”

_ “Tu sei il mio soldatino, Nico!” _ Bianca called after him.  _ “Ti amo!” _

_ “Ti amo troppo, Bianca.” _

With that, he turned back and broke into a run, once again plunging back into the Labyrinth.

_ “Until our paths cross again.” _


End file.
